As Saraki's trial at the CCT resumes, there are reports that the Senate President is involved in another scheme to squash his trial.
Senate President, Bukola Saraki has initiated a fresh move aimed at neutralising his trial before the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), according to The Nation.
This time, he has filed a new suit before the Federal High Court, Abuja seeking among others, to restrain CCT and Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) (who are listed as respondents) from proceeding with his trial.
The suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/117/2016 was filed by one Timipa Jenkins Okponipere, who claimed to be “suing as attorney to Senator Abubakar Bukola Saraki”.
The new suit, a fundamental rights enforcement application, is one of the various attempts by the Senate President to stop his trial before the CCT for alleged corruption and false assets declaration.
Saraki had challenged his trial up to the Supreme Court and lost. He has also lost past fundamental rights enforcement applications, the last being the one dismissed on April 15, 2016 by Justice Adamu Kafarati of the Federal High Court, Abuja.
In the new suit, the applicant seeks the court’s declaration that “the plan to resume the trial of Senator Abubakar Saraki at the CCT is a breach of his fundamental right to fair hearing as guaranteed by Section 36(1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
He also seeks an order compelling the CCT and AGF to suspend indefinitely, any plan to resume the trial at the CCT.
Among the grounds relied on by the applicant, include that the trial at CCT was commenced at the wrong time; four years after Saraki allegedly committed the offences.